Questioning gets too personal for airport worker

The Ontario Arbitration Board has ruled an airport worker suffered discrimination and harassment contrary to the collective agreement when she was interviewed by a health and safety officer.

On May 14, 2006, a worker for the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport was bothered by a loudspeaker malfunction in the vehicle pickup and dropoff area, which caused voice messages to be repeated loudly at frequent intervals. She developed a headache and reported it to her supervisor.

Two days later, on May 16, she was summoned from her work station by a manager to a meeting with a health and safety officer to discuss the incident. At the time, she didn’t know what the meeting was for, so she declined a union representative.